Moments
by JazzyLittleMonster
Summary: Drover/Sarah. A series of moments. Non-connected and not in order, from various points in the story of the movie, or in situations I imagine before or after it. Each chapter is a new moment. WIP - will continue to add moments.
1. First Moment

First Moment

She's hungry for him. He hasn't even been gone a week and she already misses him so much it overwhelms her. She's not used to feeling such powerful things, and feeling them so deeply and intensely. It's hot and dry, she waves her small cotton fan rapidly in front of her face but it doesn't do anything. She takes frequent sips from her glass of iced tea, but it does little to quench her parched throat. She concentrates on the letter to her cousin Clarence, though her hand is sweaty and can't grip the pen properly, so her handwriting comes out messier than she'd have liked. This country is still so strange and uncomfortable in so many ways. But she is not ready to leave, and doesn't know if she ever will be.

There is plenty of work to do on the ranch. The Drover made sure things were in good shape before he took off on the drove, but the daily maintenance needs to be kept up. Nullah whistles lightly, creating the tiniest breeze breaking the heat, as he helps Sing Song prepare dinner. Bandy is getting water from the tower to put on the boil. Sarah needs to finish the letter before dinner, so that she can turn her attention to finishing the pile of tax forms Callahan is coming to collect later this evening.

She sets down her pen, missing the Drover so much she can hardly breathe in the claustrophobic heat. She slept badly again last night. After weeks of his body curled around hers, she is finding it hard to sleep without him. The heat doesn't help of course, still so foreign and uncomfortable, it makes her restless and irritable. Nullah is delightful company, and she is more than able to fill her days with entertaining and nuturing him: tennis lessons, reading and grammar lessons, cricket games, taking the horses out for an adventure to the river or the mountains, curling up in wicker chairs on the verandah, sharing songs and singing every song they know into the vast starry night. But there is a part of her, only recently awakened, that longs for the presence and love of a man. The man who can fill the void he left is riding, almost alone, across the dusty dry Outback.

Sarah resolved when he left to never let it bother her so much that she couldn't continue happily with her life. It's a matter of principle and pride. Like a many things she's learned about the Drover, it's turning out to be much harder to control than she expected.

* * *


	2. Second Moment

Second Moment

The first thing he misses is her smell.

He doesn't really notice the first day (after the intial pang of longing as they said goodbye, and the feeling of dread as he rode away from her, so deep in the pit of his stomach he could barely recognize it). At first, he's so thrilled to be back on the drove, whipping the dry sand into swirls of furious wind, commanding the herd along, feeling in his element in a way he only got when he was out here. The first night they stopped to rest, he was so tired he fell sound asleep against a tree before they even made camp.

The next morning he wakes to a bright sun, the beams warm on his face, making him squint and smile. He goes over to the river they've stopped by to take a drink and freshen his body, which is sticky and clammy from the day of riding and night of sleep. As he passes through the long grasses at its bank, he catches a faint hint of a fresh, soft, flowery scent. His heart constricts for a moment as a memory of her rushes to his mind. They are lying in long grass, entwined in each other, discovering each other's bodies; soft spots and favourite spots, and he burries his face in the join of her neck, just under her elegant chin, and inhales her skin. The memory is strong, and suddenly he is overwhelmed with how much he misses her.

He tries to put it aside; those feelings are no use to him out here. But it stays with him all day, despite the thrill of the drove still bringing fresh excitement and leaving him pleasantly exhausted at the end of the day. That night as he closes his eyes to surrender to sleep, she dances in his mind, soft lips, golden hair, sparkling fierce eyes, the stupid look she gets when she thinks she's right, the smile she gives him from across the breakfast table, the days they raced horses for miles until they both gave up, laughing, and called it a tie for the winner.

She comes to him most nights after that. And sometimes in the days too. Sometimes a particular thing will trigger it, like the smell of the long grass. Sometimes she'll just swoop in out of nowhere to his mind, and distract him from the excitement of the drove and the work that has to be done.

This year's drove is much harder than last year's. But he's glad for it, because it's worth it to have something to miss; someone to come home to.

* * *


End file.
